Engine of Prosperity

Engine of Prosperity. Cumberland Valley Railroad Museum. , The expansion of railroads throughout the nineteenth provided new opportunities for economic growth in the Cumberland Valley. Here in Shippensburg, industrial firms chose locations along the tracks in order to receive raw materials and transport their products to distant markets., Domestic Engine and Pump Company , Just before the turn of the twentieth century, brothers Charles B. and Harry H. Segner of Hagerstown designed a gasoline engine for farm use. They formed the Domestic Engine Company and sold their first engine (a 2.5 horsepower air-cooled model) to Elmer Hess of Lancaster County on Dec. 6, 1899., At about the same time, H. Milton Etter of Greencastle designed and patented a hand pump for farm use. The new "Etter Easy Running Pump" was ideally suited for this area of Pennsylvania where wells were often quite deep., In 1903, a group of Shippensburg businessmen recognized the potential of combining the two machines and approached the owners of Domestic Engine about relocating to their community. Charles Segner was appointed superintendent of the new firm, which began engine and pump production at a plant on this site in early 1905., Industrial Heyday , At first the company focused solely on the Model A engine and the Etter pump, which could be used together to provide running water for rural households. The product line later grew to include larger engines and a wide range of pumps, such as enormous centrifugal pumps used by the New York City subway to remove water during floods., Evolution of an Industrial Firm , In the early 1950s, Hoffman Specialty Manufacturing Corp. of Indianapolis purchased the company and shifted the Shippensburg facility to producing iron and aluminum castings along with a range of industrial pumps. Thirty years later, at about the same time Conrail abandoned the Cumberland Valley line, International Telephone and Telegraph bought Hoffman and transferred production to Illinois. However, a group of local employees established their own firm, Shippensburg Pump Company, which continues the proud tradition of manufacturing at a plant a few blocks away., This Thurman mechanical scale was used on Domestic Engine's railroad loading dock, which is visible on the upper left of the central image taken during a 1909 foundry fire.